in the close ties connecting Madras with the City of London. London was the financial centre of the British Empire as well as the generator of overseas expansion. Colonial societies in the West Indies and North America were economically and socially dependent upon the metropolis and so was Madras. This book places the activities of the private merchants in Madras within the framework of the first British Empire. It focuses on a hitherto neglected field of study, uncovering a private trading network, a diaspora, built on gentlemanly capitalism, trust and ethnicity.